AMHERST, Mass. – Patricia Fox, of Westford, who graduated this month from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in civil engineering, is a complicated and talented young woman. She qualified this spring to be a cheerleader for the New England Patriots football team. She also has a passion for historic preservation – the field she desires to work in as a professional engineer. And this year, Fox traveled to Kenya to help provide clean drinking water for about 3,000 people in the western part of the country. The trip was organized by the UMass Amherst chapter of Engineers Without Borders, an organization that works in Third World countries.

AMHERST, Mass. – Up to $50,000 in prize money supplied by private donors is available to award in the 2010 University of Massachusetts Amherst Innovation Challenge on Thursday, April 22 at the Campus Center.

AMHERST, Mass. ─ The University of Massachusetts Amherst Alumni Association is proud to announce their 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients, whose accomplishments will be recognized at a prestigious awards luncheon at the Massachusetts State House in Boston on April 14, 2010. Each year the Alumni Association honors alumni, faculty, and friends who have built on their UMass Amherst experience to attain distinguished achievements in the public, business or service realms. Lt. Governor Timothy Murray, as well as University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson and UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub will address those in attendance prior to the awards presentation.

AMHERST, Mass. – The sport management program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has named Paul Archey, senior vice president of international business operations for Major League Baseball, and Jim Carr, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the winners of the 2010 Harold J. VanderZwaag Distinguished Alumnus Award.

AMHERST, Mass. – Jean Kim has been named vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, assuming the post she has held on an interim basis for the past nine months.

Alumnus Jeffrey B. Mullan, the secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, will be the keynote speaker March 11 when the University of Massachusetts Amherst student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) hosts its 11th annual Tech Day in the 10th floor Amherst Room of the Campus Center. The event begins at 2:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 5:30 that will include the keynote address and an awards ceremony. Mullan’s talk is titled, “Facing Transportation Challenges in the Commonwealth.”

AMHERST, Mass. – The excitement of student teams competing for more than $10,000 in prizes and support for their business ideas will again liven up the University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus Center as the opening event of the annual Innovation Challenge is held on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The executive summary and elevator pitch competition, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Room 1009.

AMHERST, Mass. – The Master of Fine Arts Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is among the best graduate creative writing programs in the country, according to Poets & Writers Magazine.